Seize

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors has beefed up a local law enforcement program that seizes homes and other assets of suspected drug dealers. The board voted Tuesday to give the Ventura County district attorney's office $219,200 this year to augment its asset forfeiture program, which operates under a state law that allows local agencies to keep up to 76.5% of the assets seized from drug traffickers. The district attorney's office will use the money to hire four additional employees plus two vehicles and mobile car radios.

Police, working on an anonymous tip, found 140 harvest-ready marijuana plants in a remote area of the Angeles National Forest near Monrovia and then arrested two suspected growers, authorities said Monday. The field, visible clearly from the air but reachable only on foot, was found last week within the forest boundaries, about seven miles north of Monrovia, officer Jay Olds said. Officers staked out the field after discovering the plants last week.

Federal regulators inadvertently tipped their hand that they were preparing to seize Lincoln Savings & Loan in Irvine 2 weeks ago. Before the April 14 seizure, a large force of examiners and other staff members from out of town checked into hotel rooms in Phoenix, where Lincoln's parent, American Continental Corp., is located. The company maintains a Lincoln administrative operation in an adjacent building. Regulators booked a number of rooms at the Crescent Hotel, which is 55% owned by Lincoln.

Regulators on Friday seized Corus Bank, a major lender to condominium, office and hotel developers, adding it to the long list of banks that have succumbed to waves of loan defaults. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Corus, a unit of Chicago-based Corus Bancshares Inc. The bank had $7 billion in assets. Corus Bank's 11 branches will reopen as branches of Chicago-based MB Financial Bank, which agreed to assume Corus' deposits. The closure of Corus will cost the deposit insurance fund $1.7 billion, the FDIC estimated.

I am writing with respect to the incredibly misinformed observation with respect to Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Kent Bridwell by the writer of the Jan. 14 story headlined "Court Says S&L Can Seize Ashkenazys' Art Collection." Any citizen who knows the first thing about our courts knows that commissioners, particularly Bridwell, are not occupied with "minor matters." JOHN W. SHELLER Santa Monica

Regarding "Price Blunders on the Internet Can Spin a Very Tangled Web" (Travel Insider, March 9): What about the ethical aspects of taking advantage of a ridiculous offer? It is shameful to seize upon another person's mistake for your own benefit. So you saved a few bucks. I want to pay the lowest price, but a fair price. I expect people to do the same when dealing with me. Will Wennerberg Marina del Rey

Swiss police have seized 1,000 bottles of locally made "Keineken" beer after the Dutch beer giant Heineken NV complained that its brand was being infringed. The name "Keineken" appears to be a pun in German meaning "No Heineken." Heineken spokesman Jeroen Breuer said in Amsterdam that a judge ordered police to seize the brew after agreeing that the Keineken name was an infringement.

I believe most misconceptions about public relations stem from a historic image that PR = advertising = manipulation. Many are uncomfortable with the idea of participating in such an equation, as well as with the idea of trying to toot their own horns. Yet they are keenly aware of the necessity of standing out in the crowd. Thus, it is naturally easier (because less participatory) for them to seize upon the advertising agency which offers "public relations as an accommodation," promising them everything they want--and more.